Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-12-10
HOW BILL ME WORKS
Aaik Concerning One of the ,tos.
 fopuiar Funny aIen Of the D,v

Aaik Concerning One of the ,tos. Aopuiar Funny Men of the Dav. LA- Marvel says: "A man asks me ,c
 wrlte something; he might as well asl
 'he sAies to rain Bin We savs: ssIf vo,I
 want me to write just tell me to writo
 something and then let me alone"
 ne generally keeps a supply of some
 twenty subjects pretty well in hand tbot
 can oe written mp on short notice We
 Keeps a note book just like the res, a
 literary rGg bag Unto which lots and Io.s
 goes in, and nothing Has ever vet kpov,r
 To come out He thinks there is n fort,,,,1
 m store for the man who invests maDu-
 scripts with some property like a rloonet
 that by passing them over the rubbisb Inf
 note book will attract to themselves
 just what belongs.
 He cannot write fin order" He has attempted q few times to write bv r,eas-
 Sfe' so many words, so much pay, such A length, such subject. "Why, you might as well pack Inc down into my trundle
 seG and tell mo tO sleep. can feel the erailp in my limbs yet" He cannot even Write under headings, as lis subject.
 Ike stick in water, Is apt to turn ali sorts ot crooks and elbows before he gets 10 the bottom.
 D piece Of his manuscript the other day. his thumb resting on spot of ii tbat y-Ss bursting with laughter "For heavens sake, Bill, how did you ever eel tbis turn on that' Did you sit down in coId blood and manufacture it. or did it come on you all of a suddenf'' "Tbe pen Wns hGH through the joke before I saw it. ', said he.
 lie never rewrites an article by my chance, often intcrlines, crosses out or doubles up, but the copy goes to the of nee just that way. It all comes just about as he wants it, faster than he can write 1t. He sometimes has to stop tO spear word which is careening about in vacancy, but never an expression. He must finish one article while in that par ucular mood. It is useless to try to re- call 1t ia any particular shape 1T inter rupted, and he has lost much valuable matter in this way. He intends makinga study of more continued writing, but threads the attempt
 On his first writing he used high desE. but later on, finding that height aleo- lutely necessary to composition deliber- ately broke himself of the habit by writ Ing on hi5 knee, which now constitutes bis desk on all ordinary occasions. He Uses q little pencil, likes a very fine pen point. He makes the finest copy of any writer he knows except one He hates proof reading, and says a man has to sui fer so little nowadays by mistakes, owing to the excellent proof work done by the | newspapers, that he had much rather suf- | fer that little" than read the proof so Hong"
 Much greater facility has come to him by practice. Also he has a consciousness | that there is @ marked improvement in | the pith and finish of his work. In this | he is supported by the opinions of his best | friends, who are always prompt to give | helpful criticism" :" and hy the distaste he | now has for his earlier efforts, some of I which are quite unpalatabie to him now. I He has no fear whatever of running Out'' | or becoming stale, as Le does not claim to | create, only to cl0the C!l subjects of liY- | ing interest in new form, md this can Il walk side by s;le with humanity just as | long as it or he lives He has written ia | all only about twelve years.
 He gives his best mind work to his Il every day friends, saving nothing because t is more valuable written. Before writ ng he was an inimitahie story teller and joke maker of that delicious type that slOws the fun only with his eyes. The Jnly reason that he is less humorous now n conversation than in his writing is on he principle of turning over on the Jfher side to rest weary muscle" The lumorist, as the comedian, must turn to the grave for relaxation Ed. gar Thomas in Inter Ocean